Target Challenge Golf Betting Preview

This will be the sixth annual staging of the Target World Challenge, an event run by Tiger Woods from which the proceeds go to his charities, namely the Tiger Woods Learning Centre, and Start Something. Sixteen players take part on this occasion, and it is arguably the strongest field yet.Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks California is the venue, and it is hard to dismiss the host who has a tremendous record in the event. Woods, who has recently been demoted to number three in the world rankings may only have won it once, in 2001, but in 2000, 2002 and 2003 he has finished as runner up.His most recent outing this year came in Japan where he laid claim to the Dunlop Phoenix Championship, and in doing so claimed his first stroke play victory for eighteen months. A limited schedule has been in operation since the Ryder Cup, and this has allowed some swing alterations to be made. Many were sceptical that this was a good idea, but the early indications from Japan were that they will prove very effective indeed.5/2 is the best price to be found at VC Bet and his golf has been improving for some time without winning. Astonishingly for a man with an awesome record of completing victories when in the chase, three of four starts prior to Japan saw him leave as runner up.If Woods wanted to make this an easy event for himself, Vijay Singh would certainly not have been amongst those invited. This was obviously not at the top of Woods's list of priorities though, as the big Fijian does line up, and can be supported at 7/2.Singh's form towards the end of the official 2004 campaign was sensational, with six victories from eight outings and this was enough to usurp Woods at the top of the world rankings. In total the 41 Year old won nine PGA counting events during this calendar year, and became the first man to win more than $10 Million. His victories have come on a variety of course styles too, and there is certainly no reason to believe he should struggle around this particular 6988 yards of Jack Nicklaus design.We feel that any betting verdict must include one of these two heavyweights this week, and have given the edge to Woods, even with his shorter price. His record here is fantastic, whilst Singh has only once come in the top five, when he was runner up to Woods in 2001. Tiger is desperate to get back to the very top of the world order, and we expect him to recreate the form he showed in Japan, and win a tournament which is clearly very important to him. Padraig Harrington was champion here two years ago, and it was a result which many believed would open the floodgates. Winning in America, and beating Woods in a virtual head to head was a fine achievement but he has not managed to really move on from that point. Coming second in Hong Kong last week was enough to keep him as the world number six until January, but means that he has had to fly half way around the world in order to get to California. This is not ideal preparation for the Irishman and so we shall leave the 8/1 alone.Miguel Angel Jimenez looks better value at 16/1, considering that he won in Hong Kong and in fairly convincing fashion, for what was his fifth victory of 2005. However, having written off Harrington due to the travelling difficulties, we really have to do the same with Jimenez.Further down the list, Jim Furyk caught the eye when coming joint fourth at the Nedbank Challenge last week, but this is hardly enough for us to ignore the poor form which was endured for the majority of the season. 20/1 is not appealing, and neither is the 16/1 for Chris DiMarco who finished level with him at Sun City.Our each way selection is going to go to Fred Couples, at a best price of 40/1. This will be the fourth time that the 45 year old has competed in this event, and he has always finished inside the top ten, with a best position of fourth from 2000. 2004 has been far from a vintage season for the 1992 US Masters Champion, but it has improved as time has gone on. Three of his last eight regular PGA Tour starts have seen results recorded inside the top six and his last outing saw him take the title at the Merrill Lynch Skins. This may have been a charity event but beating Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Annika Sorenstam is not easy under any circumstances.40/1 is a decent price in our opinion and is worth taking each way; paying out at 1 /4 odds for a top three finish. Get a free fifty pound bet on the Golf with VCBet!